A History of the Association for Behavior Analysis
On October 5, 2002, a few members of ABA, faculty and staff of the Western Michigan
University Psychology Department, and ABA staff, gathered together at 1219 South Park Street in
Kalamazoo, MI to celebrate the inauguration of new office space for the Association. President
Michael Perone performed the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon, which was followed by a
reception in the new building.
The new beginning that this ceremony represented, inspired past ABA Secretary-Treasurers to look
back to provide an account of some of the major events in the Association’s history. In the following
articles, Richard Malott remembers ABA’s first 10 years in The Founding of ABA, David Lyon
recalls the second decade in ABA’s Expansion of Influence and Maria Malott remarks upon the
past nine years in Growth and Organizational Maturity. In preparing these articles, the authors
reviewed Executive Council meeting minutes from their terms of office and consulted key
individuals regarding relevant sections, including Carol Pilgrim, Sigrid Glenn, Margaret Vaughan,
and Jerry Mertens. However, the following pages are a personal account of the past 29 years,
and the authors do not intend, and indeed space prohibits, that this be a comprehensive study of
all the events that have taken place in the organization.
The Founding of ABA
By Richard Malott, Ph.D.
The Problem
As it is now, so it was in the early 70’s: The Midwest was a behavior-analytic stronghold. But few
behavior analysts could get their papers accepted by the Midwestern Psychological Association
(MPA). For example, MPA rejected the presentations of notable, productive behavior-analytic
scholars like Travis Thompson. As it turned out, the MPA program committee had an explicit policy
of rejecting behavior-analytic presentations.
True, we could always present at the annual conferences of the Eastern Psychological Association
(EPA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychonomic Society, and the Association
for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT). But we couldn’t present in our own backyard,
MPA, which met in Chicago.
The Solution
Many of us whined about this, but only one man did something about it. That man was Jerry
Mertens, a faculty member at St. Cloud University (Saint Cloud State College, at the time).
I first saw Jerry Mertens at APA ‘68 in San Francisco--a huge, hyperkinetic bear of a man, with
long, shaggy brown hair and a long, shaggy brown beard shouting, gesticulating, and enthusing
about “Consequation in Education” to a large, captivated audience. I was so impressed, I
remember the event 35 years later.
Well, the 70’s was a decade of protest against the establishment. And a common form of protest
against establishment conferences was to hold an alternative-conference, same time, same place,
next door, with the goal of forcing the establishment to open their doors to the alternative folks.
So, at the last minute, Jerry and Izzy Goldiamond threw together a two-day, concurrent, alternate
conference at the University of Chicago in 1974. We were delighted that almost 100 people
attended. And there was born MABA (The Midwestern Association of Behavior Analysis), with the
goal of holding a more formal alternative-to-MPA conference in ’75, with the ultimate goal of
gaining acceptance of behavior analysis by MPA.
Neal Kent, from Western Michigan University (WMU) felt that Jerry would not have sufficient
human resources at St. Cloud to pull off a real conference and so offered to collaborate with him.
And one human resource Jerry would not have for that next conference would be Marge Vaughn
(AKA Maggie Peterson), a high energy little nifty whom Jerry had turned on to behavior analysis,
who had played a key role in organizing the U. of Chicago conference, and who was just entering
the MA program at WMU. Knowing that Marge would be at WMU and could keep the WMU end
of things from completely falling apart, he agreed to share the responsibility with Neal and
WMU. Marge would work under Neal, helping to organize the first MABA conference for
independent, for which she received study credit, as MABA had no money for a paid staff.
But, midway through the fall of ’74, Marge came to me in tears because she could never find Neal
to get the work done and she didn’t have sufficient clout on her own. Would I help. Yes, I would.
I would bring my considerable behavioral systems analysis skills to bear on the creation of MABA
and its first conference. Those skills consist mainly of an expertise in delegatory technology—the
ability to get everyone else to do the work, while kicking back and downloading Napster (or
whatever the comparable form of degeneracy was in the 70’s). When you don’t have money to
pay staff, the distinction between a good performance manager and a con-artist is a subtle one.
Well, MABA would be brand new and unknown; so we wanted to have a bevy of superstar
headliners to attract attendees—with luck 200 or maybe 300 attendees. And we didn’t want to
rely on our call for papers, which could be too easily ignored by the superstars. So we sent out
personal invitations to the big guys. We were so bold as to even invite them big guys from the
east coast, big guys like Charlie Catania. And, amazing: Almost all accepted, though we not only
could not pay them, they even had to pay for their own registration. Outrageous, but it worked.
Personal invitations are always worth the hassle.
And, in addition to 20 invited superstars, MABA ’75 had an attendance of 1,100, not 300. And, at
the end of the conference east-coast superstar Charlie Catania said that MABA was the best thing
to happen to behavior analysis since JEAB and JABA (or words to that effect) and he’d be back
next year, with or without a personal invite. Imagine that. Build it right, and they may come.
Wagging the Dog
And the hotel was a delight—the Blackstone, just the right level of decaying elegance befitting an
alternative, protest conference, and right across the alley from MPA’s Hilton—perfect for the
active interchange and cross breeding between MPA and MABA that Jerry saw as crucial to the
behavioralization of MPA.
But, it didn’t work. To my knowledge, no one from MABA attended MPA; and no one from MPA
attended MABA. Never depend on natural contingencies to support difficult behavior.
Jerry had turned over ultimate control of MABA to The MABA Organizational Committee. And,
because MABA, as a stand-alone organization, had been such a success, and because MABA had
had no impact on MPA, and because of schedule conflicts, the committee voted to cut loose from
MPA and meet when and where was best for MABA. Always be flexible enough to go for targets
of opportunity.
Jerry objected to the mission shift. His goal was to influence MPA. Disappointed with the vote, he
abandoned MABA to continue his seduction of MPA.
While concentrating on MABA, I continued to work with Jerry on MPA, though I thought it was a
lost cause. But to my surprise, Jerry managed to get Jim Dinsmoor elected to the MPA Council of
Directors in 1973, Nate Azrin as President in 1974, Sid Bijou as a Council member in 1974, and
Ken MacCorquodale on the Council after that.
How’d he do it? Even in large organizations, few people send in nominations, so a small,
coordinated group (e.g., Jerry’s MPA behavior analysts) can easily get their person on the ballot;
then that person has a fighting chance of getting elected by the general membership (who, in this
case, did not have an anti-behavior-analysis bias). A small, organized cohort can exert influence
beyond its numbers.
But the behavioralization of MPA was short lived. The reactionary forces of MPA regrouped and
recouped. This leads to Don Baer’s wisdom concerning maintenance of changes in organizations:
After the behavioral revolution, beware the counter-revolution.
In 1988, Jerry returned to ABA, bringing his undergraduate students with him. He was wise enough
to time-limit his grudge.
The Evolution from MABA to ABA
Now Jerry’s mission had been to behavioralize MPA. My mission had been to provide a
conference that my students, the WMU students, and the Midwestern students could attend. So, it
had to be in the Midwest, because clearly students could not afford to go to EPA, all the way out
to the east coast, nor could they afford to go to APA, which met in such remote locations as San
Francisco, New Orleans, Washington DC, and Disney World. I saw no need for another national
organization; since we already had the Behavior Analysis Division 25 of APA, though Division 25
had been seriously weakened by the emergence of MABA. But, if behavior analysts from all over
the country wanted to come to the Midwest, cool.
And, like Jerry, I was voted down. Clearly, MABA was functioning as a de facto national
organization; and we should change it’s name and mission, to recognize that. Thus ABA was born,
again, reflecting the wisdom of going for targets of opportunity. And it turns out that, Midwestern
student participation has not been hurt by a floating ABA.
The Founders of MABA/ABA
Jerry Mertens
Jerry Mertens started MABA  ABA to gain acceptance into MPA. That mission failed, but most of
us think ABA is an even more significant accomplishment. Without Jerry, there absolutely would be
no ABA. ABA was not an idea whose time had come. In fact, our success took us all by surprise.
Who is Jerry Mertens? A teacher at St. Cloud. What has he published? Damned little, certainly
nothing in JABA or JEAB. Where’d he get his PhD? He didn’t, he only has an MA. Yet, without Jerry
Mertens, you wouldn’t be reading this ABA Newsletter, because there’d be no ABA. Who is Jerry
Mertens? One of the world’s greatest teachers of behavior analysis. He coaches a farm team that
sends many great, well trained, turned-on undergrads into the big-league behavior-analytic grad
programs. Jerry also runs the Magical Behavioral Bus tour which he fills up with people from
around the country, undergrads, a few grads students, an occasional faculty member, and takes a
summer tour around the behavioral centers of the USA, having the students intensively read, study,
and report on each center, before and after visiting. By the end of that trip, the students have
learned a lot of behavior analysis, and lost a lot of sleep. At least he ran this bus tour, until
discouraged by the bureaucratic, narrow-minded reluctance of the executive committee of a major
behavior analytic program located in Kalamazoo, to grant undergrad credit for such a wonderful
educational experience. But, I believe Jerry will rise again. Who is Jerry Mertens? He is a dream
chaser. With amazing intensity and creativity, he has devoted his life to saving the world with
behavior analysis, mainly by training them up and shipping them out.
Jerry is still teaching his butt off at St. Cloud.
Neil Kent
Who is Neil Kent? Neil was the man who had the vision. He had the vision of what the Psych
Department at WMU could become. He and Roger Ulrich shared that vision. Without them, that
program would still be the mediocre, eclectic program it was before them. Behavior analysis at
WMU was not an idea whose time had come. It’s success certainly took me by surprise; and its
continued survival goes against the predictions of many. Neil had the vision, and the
social/political skills to realize that vision.
Neil also had the vision of what MABA/ABA could become. He knew the potential importance of
MABA/ABA, more than all the rest of us combined. And he knew the importance of getting WMU
involved in the creation and maintenance of MABA/ABA. And he had the social/political skills to
get our department to commit the needed resources.
Who is Neil Kent? What has he published? Damned little, certainly nothing in JABA or JEAB. Who
is Neil Kent. Just another dream chaser. A dream chaser who spent much of his professional life
setting up effective behavioral systems like WMU Psych and MABA/ABA and then fading out to
leave the maintenance of those systems to the rest of us. Without Neil Kent, there’d be no ABA.
Neil has now retired.
Marge Peterson
Marge was a mere first-year MA student when she played a crucial role in the creation of
MABA/ABA. She could get things organized and get things done, in a way that Mertens and Kent
certainly couldn’t. Without her, there would be no ABA. She charmed and coerced students and
faculty alike to build a major conference in year one, when there had been none before. What
had she published at the time she played an essential role in the creation of MABA/ABA?
Absolutely nothing, of course (she was fresh out of undergrad school), let alone anything in JABA
or JEAB. No Marge, no MABA/ABA.
From the start, she shared with me the position of Secretary-Treasure of MABA and in 1978
became the sole Secretary-Treasure of ABA, demonstrating that she didn’t need me to run things.
Then she did an extended post-doc with Skinner, became Maggie Vaughn, and took a teaching
position at Salem State College, where she’s still teaching. But she was just a first-year grad
student when she played a crucial role in the creation of MABA/ABA and she was still a mere
grad student when she became the sole Secretary-Treasure of ABA—the Head Mama.
Incidentally, at the same meeting where grad student Marge Vaughn was appointed as the sole
person primarily responsible for running ABA, I had to argue with faculty members on the Council
to allow me to have another grad student, Kathy Wright as my Co-chair of the ABA Program
Committee. My observation is that faculty members have too strong a tendency to dis
students…really.
Dick Malott
My role was the behavior systems analyst, the man with bubble gum and duct tape who tried to
keep it all together, the master of delegatory tech. A good conman and a handful of dedicated
undergrad and/or grad students can move the world.
In general, I find that it’s easier to get students to do the butt-busting work needed to pull off
something as big and complex as MABA/ABA than to get faculty to do so. To chair an actionoriented faculty group is an exercise in frustration until you realize that the only ones who will
reliably get things done are you and your students.
Now, that’s not completely true. If you can talk a faculty member into chairing a committee where
failure will have serious consequences, then that person and that person’s students can do amazing
work, usually.
There’s more than one way to contribute to the saving of the world with behavior analysis. In
addition to people with strong basic and applied research skills, our field needs dedicated dream
chasers, who have the vision, or the tenacity, or the management skills to create and maintain
systems like ABA, where we can all display our wares.
Other Early Student Creators
ABA’s Student Volunteers
Marge and I had set up the MABA Coordinating Committee at WMU, consisting of an occasional
faculty member and a few grad students. This was the main planning and logistic committee of
MABA. Then a skinny girl in t-shirt & jeans wandered in. She wanted to be part of the action. She
wanted to help. But we didn’t need any help; if anything, it looked to me like she needed help. So
what could she do for us? She could organize a group of student volunteers to run the conference.
Who needs student volunteers?
Well she persisted, recruited a large group of students. And then the t-shirt-&-jeans girl imposed
something like a $1,000 dress code for all student volunteers. A code that persists to this day. And
that’s how you can discriminate between the ABA student volunteers and the full members. The
students look really terrific, while the full members are often mistaken for the janitors.
And the skinny t-shirt-& jeans-girl convinced her fellow students to work 40 hours at MABA for
something like a commemorative t-shirt and a commemorative coffee cup. Student volunteers have
been crucial to ABA’s being able to pull off a great conference every year and still keep the cost
with in limits.
The t-shirt-& jeans-girl also had the vision. She knows what the mission is. And she knows how to
achieve it. She knows how to get large numbers of people to buy into that vision and how to get
them to work their collective butts off achieving that vision. She went on to get her MA and PhD,
then to teach in Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada and start a long career of organizing
excellent international and national behavior-analysis conferences. And to change her name from
Linda Parrot to Linda Hayes. And to move back to the US of A. And rather than be the typical
underemployed PhD wife, at her PhD husband’s university, she formed her own self-capitalized
Behavior Analysis Program in that university (University of Nevada, Reno), which has become one
of the outstanding MA/PhD behavior-analysis programs in the country and has branched out with
satellite MA programs in other states. And, most recently, she created ABA’s Council of Behavioral
Programs. None of her creations were ideas whose time had come. Without her none of her
creations would exist today. That woman had the vision, and she still does, better than almost
anyone I know. Linda Hayes is a queen of the dream chasers. But she was just a first-year grad
student when she helped MABA/ABA have a great beginning and when she implemented a
component of MABA/ABA that continues to keep it cooking so well.
ABA’s International Committee
Kathy Krumhus got her MA at WMU, did a couple Peace Corp years in Africa, and returned to
get her PhD with Neal Kent. And among the Americans, she almost alone had the international
vision. Along with fellow grad students Marco Sallas from Mexico and Okechukwu Ozuzu from
Africa, she formed an ad hoc international group that raised a little money by throwing house
parties in Kzoo and facilitated international participation in MABA. Because of the groups success,
in 1977 MABA’s Council approved their request to be recognized as MABA’s International
Behaviorists Special Interest Group.
Then one of the PhD council members objected to the notion that grad students be allowed to chair
such an important SIG, failing to appreciate that the reason the SIG existed was because of the
vision and organizational skills of those grad students and that no PhD had demonstrated that
vision nor those skills with regard to the international issues. Fortunately, the grad students were
allowed to chair and run the SIG, at least long enough to get it on a sufficiently sound footing that
PhDs could take it over without doing too much damage.
After receiving their PhDs, Kathy went to Katmandu to establish a rural teacher-training program,
changed her name from Krumhus to Goodman, then went to Jakarta and Bangkok to do
international behavioral systems analysis, and finally to Washington D.C.; Marco returned to
Mexico, where he is president of the Pedagogical University of Veracruz, where he continues to
play a crucial role in the maintenance of a strong behavior analysis presence; and OK returned to
Africa and is now in Florida working in developmental disabilities.
Though some parochial PhDs questioned the motives of Americans interested in international
behavior analysis, suggesting they were just looking for international vacations, Kathy, Marco, and
OK, mere a grad students, had the vision to understand that, if we were to save the world with
behavior analysis, we needed behavior analysts all over the world. Dream chasers.
Today, ABA has a strong, worldwide orientation; and it’s getting stronger. Now, most of ABA
understands that “saving the world with behavior analysis” means more than saving the USA. And
a handful of grad students were responsible for pointing ABA in that direction.
Behaviorists for Social Responsibility
Harry Kent was a doctoral student of mine with a rapidly developing sense of social responsibility,
so rapidly developing that by the time he’d finished his excellent dissertation at the Kalamazoo
People’s Food Co-op, he agreed to publish it only if he could footnote the caveat that his
dissertation was a lot of crap because its pay-for-performance incentive system was a corruption
of the working class and inconsistent with his newly developed Marxist-Leninist social sensitivity—a
caveat and thus a publication I felt compelled to decline. But Harry Kent (no relation to Neal) also
had the vision, a true vision of the social responsibility to save the world with behavior analysis,
only later to be replaced by what he considered the incompatible world saving tools of MarxistLeninism. And Harry too was an excellent and persuasive behavioral systems analyst, so
persuasive that he was able to convince a bunch of hippie, anti-money food co-opists to implement
a $-based performance-management system, so persuasive that he was able to convince the head
hippie co-opist, Marie Greening to enter our Behavior Analysis Program, where she did an MA
thesis on her food co-op, so persuasive that she and fellow WMU grad students Gary Gant and
Elizabeth de la Ossa accompanied him down the road to Marxist Leninism.
But while on the road to Marist Leninism and aided and abetted, as we say, by the Cal State,
Sacramento cell of behavior-analytic faculty commie/commie-symp/neo-commie/ex-commie/anticommies led by Joe Morrow, they started a small newsletter and a journal, with, yes, a red cover;
and they formed the Radical Political Behaviorist group and the presumably less hard-core
Behaviorist for Social Action group. And although these guys brought out the John Birch in even the
most liberal ABA members, and although many of the ABA Council were sure the group was going
to somehow embarrass ABA, I convinced the Council that there was nothing to worry about and
that they should approve the groups request to form the official Behaviorists for Social Action
Special Interest Group (BFSA SIG) of ABA.
Then when ABA moved its conference to Dearborn, because Illinois wouldn’t pass the Equal Rights
Amendment, the OBM track included a special symposium with top managers from Chrysler Corp,
an organization which was busy laying off workers to protect its bottom line, presumably with little
concern for the bottom lines of those workers. In the middle of this symposium, terrorists rushed in
and threw meringue pies in the faces of our distinguished, visiting Chrysler Corp managers.
The BFSA SIG immediately denied any involvement and blamed the heinous crime on “outside
agitators.” But the ABA Council would have none of that and promptly replaced the student chairs
of the BFSA SIG with a faculty member who could be counted on to demonstrate more decorum; I
think that faculty member was Steve Hayes (the man whose ABA Follies was closed down because
he showed a slide of the head of an important ABA woman superimposed on a nude body).
The BFSA SIG later metamorphosed into the Behaviorists for Social Responsibility SIG. And their
red-covered journal metamorphosed into Behavior and Social Issues, both highly respectable, run
by a respectable PhD.
Harry Kent was a young dream chaser. After graduating from WMU, he worked in developmental
disabilities for Illinois. There is a good chance that we would have no Behaviorists for Social
Responsibility SIG and no Behavior and Social Issues were it not for that student dream chaser. My
only disagreement was with their idea that Marxist Leninism was incompatible with behavioranalytic performance management.
Other Early Faculty Creators
MABA’s Feminist Movement
I was chairing MABA’s first business meeting, when a tough, man-eating, feminist, you know the
type, stood up, her fist clenched in a power salute, virtually if not really, and asked, “What about
the women’s issues?” Huh? Can’t we just sweep those under the rug? No, we must make sure there’s
a strong role for women in MABA. What a pain in the butt.
Turns out that Elsie Pinkston was not a tough, man-eating feminist, just a frightened, embarrassed,
little Kansas farm girl with a PhD from the University of Kansas and a faculty position at the
University of Chicago, but still a little farm girl scared spitless at having to make such a
confrontational do in front of all these people. She didn’t want to do that; but the big conscience
of the little, Kansas farm girl would not let her avoid doing what that little, Kansas farm-girl
conscience told her was the right thing to do.
Elsie was the first woman elected to the MABA Council. And awkward though it was for her, she
kept the women’s issues on the front burner, and wouldn’t let us good old boys sweep them under
the carpet, to mix a metaphor or two. Elsie had the vision and stayed true to it. Without her and
her fellow feminists, in early MABA/ABA, the wonderfully strong women’s presence in ABA might
not now be as impressive; and we might not have had nearly as many women presidents and
council members as we have had, over the years. And without the explicit intervention of women
like Elsie, the role of women in ABA might be much less significant; the natural contingencies alone
often fail to produce significant social improvements; things do not necessarily just get better on
their own.
Why is the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Alive and Well in ABA?
Why isn’t EAB completely obscured by us M&M pushers? Because, from the git-go, Art Snapper, at
the time a faculty member at WMU, assumed the responsibility of making sure that EAB was
always well represented in the MABA/ABA program.
Why does ABA have The Behavior Analyst (TBA)? And why is TBA like it is?
Scott Wood, a faculty member at Drake University, had that particular vision. He thought MABA
should have a journal, and not another JEAB or JABA, but rather a theoretical and organizational
journal like APA’s American Psychologist. He had the vision and the verbal skills to make it happen.
He convinced MABA’s Council and then brought it into being. And over the years, TBA has
remained reasonably true to Scott’s early vision.
What ABA Needs
ABA needs people with PhDs. And also MAs. And BAs. ABA needs students. ABA needs women.
ABA needs people with the vision and the behavior-systems-analysis skills to turn that vision into
reality. MABA/ABA needed such people to get it going; and it needs them to keep it from
stagnating. ABA needs dream chasers. And that’s one of the delightful things about ABA—it’s got
‘em. Check out the program. Talk to the folks hanging out in the lobby. ABA has many people
who’ve spent much of their lives chasing a behavior analytic dream, in an effort to save or to
understand one little part of the world or another. There are few issues of human concern that at
least someone in ABA hasn’t tried to address, all the way from getting an autistic kid to touch his
nose, to social welfare for an entire country, to achieving international peace. And they do so with
considerable intelligence, considerable behavior analytic expertise, and considerable dedication.
ABA has many great dream chasers.
But, most of all, ABA needs students. Without students, there would have been no MABA. Without
students, there would be no ABA. And without students, there will be no behavior analysis. Our #1
priority is to recruit, train, and properly place students.
ABA’s Biggest Problem
ABA’s biggest strength is its student membership (in 2002, 36% of ABA’s 3,923 members were
students). ABA’s biggest problem is maintaining those students, once they graduate. ABA’s biggest
problem is converting student memberships to full memberships. If we were successful at this, ABA
would now have 40,000 members instead of 3,923 members. For example, most of the original
student founders and creators are fond but distant ABA memories. That doesn’t mean some are not
still practicing behavior analysis, but there is a strong tendency for even our most dedicated and
active grad students to gradually abandon most of their behavior analytic repertoire they worked
so hard to acquire and we faculty members worked so hard to help them acquire; there is a strong
tendency to regress to the common-sense, mentalistic mean. And the main function of ABA should
be to attenuate that regression. We can never depend on natural contingencies to support difficult
behavior.
For a wonderful, less opinionated, more factual account of this early history, see Marge Peterson’s
(1978) article.
Reference
Peterson, M. E. (1978). The Midwestern Association of Behavior Analysis: Past, Present, Future. The
Behavior Analyst, 1, 3-15.
ABA'S Expansion of Influence
(1984-1993)
By David Lyon, Ph.D.
This contribution, entitled Expansion of Influence, is not a record of ABA's academic contributions
and there is no mention here of SAFMEDS, Direct Instruction, polydipsia or the establishing
operation. It is a history based upon Executive Council minutes and, for better or for worse, a
lingering memory of the transpired events reflected in that record.
In May 1984 the Council meeting opened at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, with a
motion to approve the same site for the 1987 convention. It was an extravagant and top-rated
venue, but one that Fred Keller often jokingly called a home of "gilded characters." Council also
rescinded the boycott of states that had failed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, a
disapproval that had transplanted the meetings from Chicago to Milwaukee for several years,
prolonging an unwelcome regional appearance to the organization. Subsequent changes in
meeting sites from Philadelphia to Nashville to Las Vegas helped to promote a national agenda
and shed the original Midwest affiliation as an adjunct to the Midwest meetings of the American
Psychological Association.
The agenda for that 1984 meeting included a presentation by Frederick King on the status of
legislation regarding animal research. The Association was asked to join an informal coalition to
counter the efforts of the Mobilization for Animals, an active group that vehemently opposed
animal research, and was based in Columbus, Ohio, the site of the upcoming convention. At a later
discussion of the topic, Israel Goldiamond rose from his wheel chair declaring that animal research
might one day create the opportunity for him to walk again. It was, to say the least, an emotional
time.
As the meeting wore on, a committee on corporate technology transfer was established, the initial
organization of a certification board was completed and the application for the Behavior Analysts
Against Nuclear War as a special interest group was denied. The nature of the issues and
Council's decisiveness in their discussion set the tone for expansion of the Association's influence
over the next several years.
Right to Effective Treatment
Issues concerning effective education and treatment were raised in part by proposed legislation in
Massachusetts concerning the use of aversive control procedures. At the fall meeting in 1986,
Council directed the president to write letters to key members of the Massachusetts legislature
expressing ABA's concern about the legislation that could "create a possibility of unexpected and
undesired consequences in treatment outcomes due to the wording of the bill." Philip Hineline in
turn noted that the critical issue was "the right to treatment based upon effectiveness, not the
appearance of the treatment procedures or the institution in which the treatment takes place."
Beatrice Barrett was appointed chair of the Right to Effective Education task force and was later
commended for her effective testimony that helped defeat the proposed legislation limiting
aversive control procedures in Massachusetts. The task force on the Right to Effective Treatment,
chaired by Ron Van Houten, was named the most productive committee of the year and Council
charged the task force with drafting a model bill on effective treatment. Finally, Council also
approved a symposium on the right to effective treatment for the 1987 convention to be
scheduled with minimal conflict and an invitation was extended to Stewart Agras to serve as
presidential guest.
In the spring of 1986 the Outstanding Action Award was approved by Council with the intent of
recognizing individuals who sought to improve the quality of life for some segment of society.
Although it was not so written, the ensuing discussion implied that the recognized action might be
socially unpopular. Marlin Schneider, Representative of the Wisconsin State Legislature, was
named as the first recipient for initiating legislation to insure that grandparents would assume
responsibility for grandchildren born to minors.
The following fall, Council approved two other Outstanding Action Awards, the first to Robert
Sherman for outstanding legal action insuring a person's right to effective treatment and the
second to Leo and Claudi Soucy, who approved and supported the effective use of aversive
control in curing the self destructive behavior of their developmentally disabled child.
An ABA History
These awards were presented at the 1987 convention, a ceremony that in turn set off
a heated discussion of the matter during the business meeting at the end of the 1987
convention and consequently a general furor within the behavioral community. In spite
of the uproar, Council did not recant, but approved a motion that any public statement
about the awards be "by joint authorship of the Council that elected to present the
awards."
The award itself was a bronze sculpture of a frog, cast near Lawrence, Kansas, and
mounted tastefully on a wooden plaque. The identification of the frog as the
Association's mascot in this manner was a curiosity to some and an insult to others,
adding to the rancor of the situation. The frog image grew from a student skit at
Western Michigan University, and a subsequent tongue in cheek article noted that this
creature grows from tadpole to frog, survives in aquatic and land environments and is
not susceptible to conditioning procedures. All of these strengths seemed to reflect the
characteristics of a good behavior analyst; a maturing problem solver with a keen awareness of
the environment and steadfast independence. The frog's notoriety remained until November 1988,
when Jon Bailey objected to the mascot and recommended it be replaced by the American Bald
Eagle, bringing the demise of the frog's appearance on any subsequent materials published by
ABA.
The "awards debate" and the frog awards changed the organization's perception of itself and the
manner in which it conducted its business. An awards committee was created by Council and
henceforth all awards would be based on "specified criteria, and not on characteristics of an
intended recipient." The task force on the Right to Effective Treatment was instructed to bring its
final report to Council in May 1988. Subsequently, Brian Iwata was asked to abstract a proposed
position statement from that report which in turn was sent to the membership for ratification,
showing a heighten sensitivity to the democratic process.
Public Relations and Association Building
The decision by Council to present the controversial awards ignited an emotional outburst within
the Association but, in turn. also created an increased awareness of public relations. In October
1987, Edward Morris reviewed the history of the misrepresentation of the awards to the Soucys
and to Sherman in the Newsletter of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, in which it
was claimed that the award was presented for "defending the use of aversive procedures." Morris
initiated a campaign to correct not only this error, but other misstatements of behavior analysis
appearing in text books and in other publications in the academic and popular press. The public
campaign was the first of its kind.
A press room had been planned for the 1985 convention in Columbus, anticipating difficulty with
the Mobilization for Animals group, but the issues of the right to effective treatment and the
ensuing discussions, and, yes, arguments that followed the Soucy awards ignited a far larger
concern than a room at the convention with press packets. Eventually, Henry Schlinger was
appointed as media relations coordinator for the Association.
Professional problems seemed to abound in 1987. Massachusetts Senate bill #1709, California
Assembly bill #520 and United States Senate bill #1673 each contained language with a
potential impact upon the regulation of aversive control procedures. At one point in the discussion,
Henry Pennypacker suggested the issue be brought to the attention of Night Line, a popular and
pejorative news program at the time.
The Association's outlook showed a considerable change during this period. Ogden Lindsley
recommended the creation of a Council of Presidents of the many behavioral societies to organize
and take action on issues of concern to behavior analysts. In October 1987, Barbara Etzel
reported on an informal meeting at the APA convention of presidents of Division 25 and the
Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy. While AABT subsequently declined any
further association with outside organizations, the ABA Council made direct contact with Division 25
of the APA, the American Association of Mental Deficiency, the National Society for Performance
and Instruction, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the Society of Applied Learning
An ABA History
An ABA History
Technology. Council also established liaisons with Psychonomics, the Association for
Retarded Citizens, the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, and the Council
for Exceptional Children.
Subsequently, Henry Pennypacker moved to hold a convention concurrently with the
meetings of the American Association of Mental Deficiency. At the same time,
representatives from the Neural Network Society and Youth Policy Magazine, a
Washington based publication for politicians, sought a relationship with ABA. These
were exceptional changes for an organization that was initially established to serve
an adjunctive role to the Midwestern Psychological Association.
The fast paced changes raised a concern among the representatives of the scientific
and academic communities both in ABA and APA that professional issues were
dominating the future of the organizations. In ABA at least, the issues of the right to
effective treatment and the awards to the Soucys served as the incentive to broaden
its public relations and expand its cooperation with other professional organizations. There had
been considerable change in the maturity of the organization since those initial meetings in
Chicago, and in May 1988 Henry Pennypacker moved that Council adopt a resolution of intent to
restructure the Association. In November that year, Council instructed Brian Iwata, then Association
President, to draft a reorganization proposal for review and eventual presentation to the
membership.
Financial Developments
The Association's administrative offices were established at the university of the Secretary
Treasurer, and a succession of these appointments at Western Michigan University created a
permanent niche in the Psychology Department, where space was made available. The Association
used the space without overhead charges, gained access to the University accounting system and
integrated the office staff into the University employee system providing employee benefits and
security. While the development of the programs at the convention was the work of volunteers, the
office staff, at least, attained some professional standing. Eventually, Western Michigan University
revamped the Wood Hall facility where ABA was housed, and all of the departments left the
premises for temporary facilities on Western's east campus. The Association never moved back
and remained there in West Hall.
In spite of the financial advantages of office space within the department, the Association
struggled during this period. For many years, the initial investments for the annual convention were
borrowed from the Department of Psychology, which often paid for printing, phones, and mailing
costs, which were reimbursed once registration fees, were collected. The annual meetings coincided
with the end of the Department's fiscal year, and juggling the books became an annual form of
entertainment as the Association continued to fund itself with "lunch money," as one critic
characterized its financial status. Indeed, through most of the 1980s ABA paid for its expenses
almost as quickly as the money was received, but nevertheless was able to set some money aside
for growth and financial security.
The Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, approved under the 501(c)3 tax code as
an educational entity that could receive gifts that were tax deductible for the donor, was created
in 1980. Within weeks after the approval, a substantial gift was received from Fred Skinner for
the purchase of a computer/typewriter. Council constituted the voting membership of the society
which met its educational mission by the publication of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
the organization of paper sessions at ABA's annual meeting and a planned program of student
support. As a result, the Association transferred funds annually to cover the cost of JABA that was
sent to members as a part of the Association dues. The coordinated yet separate efforts of the two
organizations strengthen both the character and the fiscal status of the behavior analytic
movement.
Certification
The development of a certification examination began in 1977 when the Education and Evaluation
Committee was established, but it was not until the fall of 1984 that a formal committee was
established with Henry Slucki as chair. Certification was considered to imply minimum standards of
competence and was believed to encourage academic excellence. A large number of hours were
devoted to the development of questions for the general examination and the consideration of
specialty areas. Eventually tests were administered and money was collected from potential
candidates and it appeared as though the program would survive, but it did not go well. In May
1987 Council disbanded the certification committee and established a task force to review the
previous efforts on certification. Jan Shelton was appointed as chair. In November 1988, Council
approved a review process for the accreditation of doctoral programs in behavior analysis and
charged the task force with developing proposed standards with some latitude. Furthermore,
Council recommended that representatives from Auburn, California at San Diego, Florida State,
Ohio State, Southern Illinois, Florida, Kansas, West Virginia and Western Michigan University be
appointed to the task force. A number of people within the Association had questioned the
certification of individuals and for the moment at least, this issue would remain fallow as Council
turned its attention to the certification and recognition of doctoral programs.
On another front, ABA offered to assist the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy
with the development of a diplomat in behavior therapy.
Expansion of Influence
When the Association was established in 1974, as the Midwestern Association for Behavior
Analysis, the intent was to hold meetings that paralleled those of the Midwestern Psychological
Association. Papers concerning issues of interest to behavior analysts were not readily accepted
by MPA, and the new Association sought to change that. When Illinois failed to approved the
equal rights amendments, the Association was chased out of Chicago in protest and went east to
Dearborn, MI. The Association was growing annually, and in 1979 even added the descriptor "An
International Organization," but its sphere of influence had a distinct Midwestern flavor.
The Association’s sphere of influence changed rapidly with the affiliation of state organizations,
the development of a wide range of special interest groups within the Association, and the influx
of international scholars. By 1987 these groups included concentrations in education, gerontology,
social action, computer users, direct instruction, ethical and legal issues, interbehaviorists, verbal
behavior and organizational behavior management. The regional groups stretched from the
Berkshires to Tennessee and Southern California.
If there was a turning point in this period, however, it was the events that surrounded the right to
effective treatment. The Association became politically active, and successfully so, changing
legislation that impacted behavior analysis. The award to Schneider for legislation concerning
grandparents, caused nary a ripple, but the awards to Sherman and to the Soucys forced a
maturing of opinion. The academic discussion of punishment, the history of Skinner's animal model
and the research on punishment by Nate Azrin with pigeons created a solid empirical footing for
the use of aversive control procedures, but the application of those procedures to humans in
applied settings forced people to take a stand with public consequences. It was no longer an
academic argument, but one with ethical and legal implications. All of a sudden it counted, and
that meant behavior analyses counted, and the influence of the tenants of behavior analysis were
reaching far beyond a few experimental behavioral change programs, lessons in the academic
classroom and research findings presented at annual meetings.
Perhaps it was out of necessity or perhaps it was the confidence attained by the conflict and the
political success, albeit limited, that pushed ABA into association with other professional
organizations, forced them to consider issues of professional accreditation and the promotion of
technology. In this brief period, experience, controversy, and conflict set the stage for an ultimate
maturity from a collection of Midwestern paper sessions to an international organization of
principle, program and progress.
Growth and Organizational Maturity
An ABA History
By Maria E. Malott, Ph.D.
Administration
In October of 1993 the ABA Executive Council met in Kalamazoo for its regular fall
meeting. At that time the Council formally offered me the opportunity to serve as
ABA’s Executive Director/Secretary Treasurer. I was honored to accept the role, which
began a week following the meeting. I attended a few hours of the Council meeting to
get a sense of the management of the Association and learned of what came to be
called “Black Monday”. This was the day the previous summer when the then-Executive
Director received a call from Western Michigan University indicating that ABA had not
paid its expenses for approximately a year. The debt included much of ABA’s
administrative expenses as well as its payroll. The amount past due plus an advanced
deposit totaled $100,000.
It was not easy for me and the rest of the Council to immediately assess the implications of that
debt for the overall financial health of the organization. All financial decisions for the following
year had been set at the May Council meeting. The situation was dire because the miscalculation
accounted for 36% of ABA’s operating expenses and drew attention to the fact that ABA did not
have an adequate financial management system. Indeed, it took five months of following paper
trails, data crunching, and analysis to appreciate the implications for the organization.
The financial review was the first item on the agenda of the May 1994 Council meeting. With the
assistance of our accounting firm, the analysis showed that expenses had been exceeding revenue
and that, if the financial practices of the previous five years continued, ABA would be out of
existence within 18 months because its cash assets would be totally depleted. Kennon A. Lattal,
then President, and Sigrid S. Glenn, Past-President, came to Kalamazoo in the summer of 1994
and we further reviewed the situation and formulated a preliminary plan to stabilize ABA
financially and organizationally. The plan was finalized at the fall Council meeting with help from
law and accounting firms and WMU’s Human Resources Department. For ABA to survive, significant
changes were necessary, not only in the finances, but also in streamlining the office, core processes
engineering, vendor negotiations, organization structure and bylaws. (see Lattal, Malott, 199?).
In June 1995, after returning from the convention in Washington, D.C. and with many unprocessed
transactions to finish, ABA was contacted by WMU and given 48 hours to move the office to a new
location. Our space in Wood Hall adjacent to the Psychology Department was to be renovated,
and the whole Department was relocating to WMU’s East Campus while Wood Hall was under
construction. I found two students, Mathew Miller and Robert Schnars, from the Psychology
Department, willing to provide critical assistance, and together we spent two long days carpeting
and painting the temporary (and unrenovated) space. While we were getting the offices
prepared for occupation, ABA’s only full-time staff person accepted another position, making me
the only staff member, with a contract that had been increased the previous year from the original
10 hours to 20 hours a week.
At the time, we were receiving many complaints from members and Board and Committee
Chairs—rightly so, because our infrastructure was much too limited to support the organization.
That summer I closed the office for two weeks and focused on hiring a full-time staff person with a
financial degree to help with the bookkeeping of the organization.
I then recruited student support and we implemented all the directives of the Executive Council for
stabilizing the organization. We developed an improvement plan using behavioral systems
analysis technology. Since 1995, processes have been streamlined, one at a time: the convention
program, membership, Web development, job placement, convention bookstore, and staff
management, among others. In the years 1994-2002 ABA benefited from the outstanding work of
faculty and students from many WMU departments: from graphic design to develop promotional
materials, from operations research to enhance convention scheduling, from engineering to improve
the computer technology infrastructure, from computer science to provide the Web interfaces that
integrate administrative databases, and from the behavior analysis program to develop practical,
useful, management systems. We have helped students assist the Association through class projects,
An ABA History
master’s projects, practica, theses, dissertations and internships.
As of October, 2002 ABA has four full-time staff members, a part-time Executive
Director/Secretary Treasurer, and fine student support. ABA’s professional team
includes Majda Seuss, a 5-year ABA veteran with a degree in English, who is in charge
of publications; Jennifer Dau, a business administration graduate who manages
membership services; Amanda Wright, a hospitality management graduate who
coordinates the convention; and Shakila Patel, an accounting graduate who maintains
the financial records of the organization. In addition, our student employees are
enrolled in masters and doctoral programs in psychology, Kathy Culig, and Kent
Smallwood, and in computer science, Zoheb Sait, Partha Bijjam and Alena Harrison.
Lori Miller, who has been with us for seven years, started working as an
undergraduate student, received her master’s degree and now is about to finish her
doctoral degree in applied behavior analysis, dedicating her thesis and dissertation
research to the improvement of ABA’s various behavioral systems.
In 2002, ABA diversified its assets to include a
$300,000 property fund. We were able to
generate sufficient resources to purchase our own
office building, a necessity precipitated by the fact
that after the Psychology Department’s space was renovated in Wood Hall there was no longer
room for the ABA offices, and our allotted unrenovated space on East Campus was no longer
sufficient to house the organization. On April 12, 2002, ABA made a cash purchase of a building
near downtown Kalamazoo and began significant renovation of that space. We inaugurated our
new location on October 5, 2002. Such an important development would have been impossible
without the longstanding support of Western Michigan University and of its Psychology
Department.
Figure 2: Inauguration
Growth
During the past nine years ABA has experienced significant growth, as seen in Figure 3. Since
1993, ABA increased its membership by 63%, from 2,409 in 1993 to 3,923 in 2002. Today ABA
comprises 36% student members, 27% full members, and 26% affiliate members. Since 1993,
student memberships have increased 4%, and affiliates have increased 7%, while full
memberships have decreased 13%. Because full membership requires a master’s degree or
equivalent in behavior analysis, the Executive Council considers retention of highly trained
behavior analysts as a crucial goal.
An ABA History
Figure 3:
Membership Trends
The
percent of members
who live
outside the United
States has
more than tripled
since
1993. Today these
members
total 659. Members
now
represent
41
countries
on five
continents. In an effort to recruit
international members, a sliding
membership fee structure was adopted; membership
fees are discounted 25%, 50% or 75% based on a
country’s average per capita income in relation to
that of the United States. Masaya Sato, the first
President of ABA not from the US, and Michael
Davison, first International Representative to the
Executive Council, along with a significant number of active members of the organization, have
done considerable work for the international development of the organization.
Affiliated chapters are another indication of growth. Today we have 39 chapters, of which 15 are
international. There has also been significant growth in some affiliated chapters. For instance,
according to chapter reports, some of our largest chapters are Asociacion Latinoamericana de
Analisis y Modificacion del Comportamiento (ALAMOC) (1,000 members), Australian Association
for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (1,000 members), and Florida Association for Behavior Analysis
(830 members). Based on reported membership figures, today chapters have approximately
9,700 members. Another exciting development is that behavioral organizations in various countries
are partnering to create regional associations. ALAMOC includes representation from several
Latin American countries. The newly assembled European Association for Behavior Analysis has
gotten together existing behavioral associations in the region, and, during the past couple of
years, efforts have been made to assemble the Asian Association for Behavior Analysis.
Delegations of behavior analysts have been another initiative of the Executive Council to bring
behavior analysis to areas of the world where there is little knowledge of it. A small international
delegation of behavior analysts travel to a country help establish and support the development of
behavior analysis. In 2001, an ABA delegation went to Russia and helped to assemble the Russian
chapter of behavior analysis. In 2002, an ABA delegation went to China to support a recently
created chapter, and in 2003 a delegation is planned for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Another area of growth has been conventions and conferences, as seen in Figure 4. In comparison
to 1993, annual convention attendance has grown 75%, from 1,650 in 1993 to 2,891 in 2002.
Figure 4: Convention Attendance.
The most significant categories of membership attending the convention are: student members
(36%), affiliate members (24%), and full members (21%). International conferences have recently
been added to the regular annual ABA convention. The first international ABA conference was held
in Venice, Italy in November 2001, and was attended by 259 people from 25 countries. The
second conference will be held in Beijing, China in November 2004, and thereafter ABA plans to
organize conferences every two years around the world.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have also been a critical part of of the Association. The SIGs
objective is “to contribute to the vitality and development of specific topics.” SIGs contribute
substantially to the variety and quality of the annual convention program. Their establishment and
growth reflect the depth of interest and scholarship within the field. Based on SIG reports, today
there are over 1,300 members across SIGs, the largest being the Development and Behavior
Strategic Direction
An ABA History
Analysis SIG (250 members) and the Society for the Quantitative Analyses of
Behavior (225 members).
Providing continuity to the initiatives of the Council had always been a challenge.
Council has relied exclusively on the dedication and voluntary work of many
Association members who already had a full agenda in their regular jobs; individual
council members rotate every three years. Bill Redmon helped the Council to see the
importance of hiring a Director who would provide continuity to Council directives. He
was hired as the first Executive Director/Secretary Treasurer of ABA from 1988 to
1993. Redmon helped to organize Council activities, creating a model for consistent
follow-up, and developing the first strategic plan of ABA. This original plan has been
revised and simplified by Councils under the leadership of Kennon A. Lattal in 1994;
Richard M. Foxx in 1995, Carol Pilgrim, in 2000, and Jack Marr in 2002.
The Council has continued to play an increasingly more strategic role by revising the way it makes
decisions, allowing itself more time to address key issues for the advancement of the field.
Enhanced strategies for decision making include systematically soliciting input from members about
key issues of discussion prior to each Council meeting, an initiative that began in 1999; setting
objectives for ABA boards and empowering Board Coordinators to manage their committees in
ways compatible with those objectives; delegating administrative functions of the organization to
the ABA office so Board Coordinators and Council members have more time to focus on key
objectives; making financial decisions based on rolling 3-year projections; and using data
whenever possible to make decisions.
In making strategic decisions in support of the field, the Council realized how little is known about
who behavior analysts are, where they work, and where they study. Although efforts for an
assessment of the discipline go back to 1987, it was in 1998 that President James Johnston and
the Executive Council commissioned Linda Hayes to conduct the preliminary, human-resource
component of a self-study of behavior analysis to begin to answer those questions. The study
demonstrated the difficulty of collecting reliable data about the field, and resulted in
recommendations for a more thorough study and the restructuring of ABA’s databases to gather
demographic, employment, and other relevant information about ABA members on an ongoing
basis.
While serving as president, Sigrid Glenn, Carol Pilgrim and others proposed significant changes in
the organization’s structure so it aligns with the mission of ABA: “To develop, enhance and support
the growth and vitality of behavior analysis through research, education and practice.” ABA
Boards have been created to focus on each of the main areas where advancement of behavior
analysis is critical: research, education and practice. And each Board’s committees focus on
specific target areas.
Research is the focus of the Science Policy and Research Board. Its charge is “to advocate for and
facilitate research,” and its emphasis today is to influence the federal government to allocate
funding for behavioral research. In this pursuit, ABA joined the Federation of Behavioral,
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences in 1992 and, in the past couple of years, has strengthened
its influence in the Federation under the leadership of Marc Branch and now Michael Perone (see
the President’s column on the cover of this issue).
Education is the focus of the Education Board, the objective of which is “to develop, improve, and
disseminate best practices in the recruitment, training, and professional development of behavior
analysts.” Recently, efforts of this Board are mainly conducted through the Council of Directors of
Graduate Training Programs in Behavior Analysis, initiated by Linda Hayes, and currently lead by
Janet Ellis (Council Director) and Pam Osnes (Education Board Coordinator).
Practice has been mainly addressed by the Standards, Accreditation and Professional Affairs
Board. This board focuses on issues relevant to certification of behavior analysts, specification of
professional standards, and accreditation of behavioral programs.
One of the most important events in the past few years has been the creation of the Behavior
Analyst Certification Board (BACB), an independent organization that adopted the State of
Florida’s certification exam and developed a national certification system for behavior analysts.
Jim Johnston, Jerry Shook and Jon Bailey, who participated in the ABA and BACB Boards, helped
to define the relationship between the two organizations and with other key players, among them
Gina Green, Sigrid Glenn, Michael Hemingway, and John Jacobson, made behavior analysts
aware of the need for certification and professional standards in maintaining the integrity of the
field while meeting increasing consumer demand for our technology. Gina Green also led the
development of a continuing education system for certified behavior analysts. In the same effort to
preserve quality, a Presidential Task Force under the leadership of Jay Moore, recommended the
establishment of the accreditation of graduate training programs to recognize quality master’s
and doctoral programs. Today there are 15 ABA-accredited graduate programs in behavior
analysis (See page XX for Janet Twyman’s update of the accreditation of programs in behavior
analysis).
For nearly three decades, ABA has grown and matured. However, behavior analysis is still young
and much yet needs to be done. In recent Council meetings, major issues of discussion continue to
be the challenges anticipated by accelerated growth, the need to maintain the integrity of the
applied and basic components of our discipline, and the importance of strengthening higher
education programs, so the field can generate qualified behavior analysts. We are in a better
position than we have ever been to face those challenges and we look forward to the future with
great expectation.